Mexican-ish Risotto

Unlike the standard rice cooking method, the technique in this recipe calls for gradually adding the liquid, ladleful by ladleful, to make a creamy porridge, sort of like Italian risotto. We add some chile and cinnamon to make it a little Mexican. While this is technically a savory dish, the cinnamon adds just enough of a sweet note that you can add honey, maple syrup, or agave and butter and have it for breakfast. If you’re serving it classic-style for dinner, try it with Grilled Spicy Diablo Shrimp (this page) or pan-fried with chorizo and a fried egg.

Serves 6

1½ cups full-fat coconut milk

2 tablespoons pure olive oil

2 cups short-grain brown rice

½ cup chopped white or yellow onion

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 dried bay leaf

½ cinnamon stick, or ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 whole dried chile de árbol

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

In a medium pot set over medium-low heat, combine 3 cups of water with the coconut milk and heat until the liquid is warm. Reduce the heat to low.

In a second medium pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat until it is shimmering, about 2 minutes. Add the rice, onion, garlic, cumin seeds, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and chile and toast, stirring, until the rice is well coated in the oil and the spices are fragrant, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low.

Add 1 cup of the warm coconut liquid to the rice and stir until it is absorbed, 5 to 8 minutes. Continue to add more liquid, 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly, until the rice is tender (but still a little al dente at the core), 25 to 30 minutes total. Stir in the remaining ½ cup of coconut liquid and season to taste with salt and pepper. Discard the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and chile before serving.

Number One Fan

In 2019 my Rams made it to the Super Bowl. Did I say mine? I meant ours. The Rams are a true Los Angeles institution. Even though the Rams have been back from St. Louis for only three years, I’ve been a fan since the 1950s—before they moved away. Before my family moved to Pacoima, we lived in Echo Park. Back then, there was still a streetcar system snaking all over town. My cousins and I would hop on a streetcar and take it downtown to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum an hour or so before kickoff. Back then security was pretty lax. We’d hide in the bathrooms and wait for a big rush of ticket holders before sneaking in with them.

Going to watch the Rams and my beloved Dodgers was one of my all-time favorite things to do as a kid, and now when I look back, I see that it was a survival skill and an escape—from school, from juvenile hall, from everything. You were there rooting for your team with what felt like everybody else in the city…and the feeling was indescribable. I was just swallowed up in this vortex of energy and nothing mattered more than what was happening in that moment.

I’m still a sports fanatic, maybe even more than I was back then when I watched Dodger Stadium being built. When the Dodgers were playing the Red Sox in the 2018 World Series, one of the games was in the 12th inning and people were beginning to leave and I screamed at them and told them to all sit down. By the 15th inning I was beginning to regret it because now there was no way I could leave. The Dodgers ended up winning in the 18th inning in the longest game in World Series history. I’d like to think I did my part to help them get there.

Now I get to do more than cheer from the stands—I get to use my restaurants to support the teams and feed the fans. When the Dodgers were in the World Series, we put baseball-shaped Dodgers donuts on the menu, and when the Rams were in the Super Bowl, we had football-shaped Rams donuts in the team’s colors. I’ve literally fed the Dodgers and the Rams by taking the Trejo’s Taco truck to the teams when they’re training. And let me tell you, I’ve never in my life seen anybody eat more tacos than the Rams!

In 2019, when the Rams played the Patriots at the Super Bowl, we parked a Trejo’s Taco truck outside the stadium in Atlanta and gave out free tacos to anyone who wanted to stand in line (and yes, we let the Patriots fans eat, too). I was there wearing my Rams jersey, handing out tacos and taking pictures with fans. When I saw fans from L.A. wearing Trejo’s Tacos T-shirts in the crowd—it was like they were using our logo as a way to show their L.A. pride—wow, I was blown away and so proud.

When I was at the Super Bowl, I felt that same amazing energy I had felt sixty years earlier. I couldn’t help but think of my dad and the jersey and helmet he bought for me when I was a kid. I was so proud to wear Norm Van Brocklin’s number 11 jersey. I wonder what Dad would think of me and the Rams now!

A sign on the truck we took to the Super Bowl in Atlanta read “Feel the Love” and that’s kind of what it’s all about. Last year, my cousin had just gotten out of prison and we took him to a Dodgers game. He’d done 38 years and he secretly was holding back, trying not to cry. He looked at me and said that he couldn’t believe it: “I’m in Dodger fucking stadium, homes.” Sports was kind of about getting out of everything, whatever you were going through, whatever was happening. When you were sitting in the Coliseum screaming for the Rams, or just being in Dodger Stadium with all the energy around you, there was nothing else going on. It was a beautiful thing back then, and it’s an even more beautiful thing now that I get to use sports to support my friends, my family, and the teams. And believe me, when the Rams are training next year, we’ll have our truck out there to feed them.